Lessons In Sociability
by Feilyn
Summary: While he's not a psychotic killer anymore, no one's going to argue that Sabaku no Gaara isn't socially retarded. Temari's trying her hardest, but there are some things only falling in love teach you, and she's not up for that. Enter Haruno Sakura.
1. Chapter 1

_I'm not sure what it is about this pairing that I like so much. Maybe it's the attraction of odd pairings in general, but I just had an idea for these two that was just too perfect to resist._

_So. Um, __**spoilers for Shippuden **__and I hope you enjoy!_

xXx

"Gaara—"

"No."

He can feel her glare, even though his eyes are centered firmly on his paperwork. "You didn't even hear me out."

"No."

"_Gaara…_"

It's strange how Temari at her worst (best, as she puts it) can instill fear even into the heart of Sabaku no Gaara. Carefully, he sets down his brush and stares impassively into the steely eyes of a woman on a mission.

Temari looks every inch the big sister, with her hands on her hips and her feet at shoulder width. She's not backing down anytime soon.

Vaguely Gaara wonders what happened to the Temari that used to be terrified of him and if it would maybe be better if he had her back.

"You're going for that check-up."

"I'm busy."

"Get un-busy." Her tone brooks no argument. Gaara argues (in a dignified sort of way) back anyway.

"I will. When I have finished this work and there is no other work to start."

Absently, Gaara notes her twitch as he turns back to his thrice-cursed paperwork. Then again, the paperwork was saving him from a medical check-up with Konohagakure's Haruno Sakura.

Sabaku no Gaara does not have people skills. He barely gets long well with the people he's known his entire life (point in case: his current situation) and Haruno is a total enigma to him. He's tried to kill her before, and she doesn't seem to bear a grudge. She's so small, but everyone seems to be a bit terrified of her. Especially the medic-nin's she's meant to be training (a bit like Temari in that respect, except Temari's not tiny. In fact, right now she's looking very, very big. And looming).

And also, the hair. Poor Gaara cannot bring himself to even contemplate the hair. He'd never admit it to anyone – _anyone – _but it scares him more than Naruto's idiot smile (you know, the one he gets when he thinks he's got a really good idea and he really, really doesn't)

Temari, during his internal monologue on the dangers of Haruno Sakura, has been slowly, carefully pacing her way towards him and Gaara suddenly notices she's in perfect position to smack him over the head.

Which she does.

Hard.

And because of the absence of Shukaku in his life (not really a bad thing) his sand wall does not automatically come to his defence like it used to (he has to control the sand himself these days) and having been lost in thoughts of Scary Sakura, his head smacks straight forward into the desk.

…_I hate my sister._

She starts to laugh.

_A lot._

"Up. Now. Sakura's not that bad, I even let her join my club."

Gaara death glares at his sister. Once, his death glare actually caused death, but its power seems to have faded somewhat because Temari just laughs and pats his sore head (like he didn't _already_ have a headache). Strangely enough it feels just like the sort of thing a big sister's meant to do and Gaara appreciates the odd moment of normality in his fucked up life.

"Club?" Economy of words. He thinks he's already over his limit for this day and that's just from being bugged by Temari.

"The Temari Club. There are now two members. Get up, baka-sama. If we wait until your work is all done, Sakura will be gone and she's better than anyone we've got here."

He glares some more. "…So?"

"So, nothing but the best for our Kazekage-sama." Temari rolls her eyes. "Now _up._"

After comparing being bugged by Temari for the rest Haruno's stay in Sunagakure and just allowing the pink-haired kunoichi to examine him, Gaara decides that there really is no contest and stands up.

Temari takes his seat. "I'll do your work, Gaara. At least for a little while."

He allows himself to raise one eyebrow slightly. "How?"

She smirks. "I wouldn't be much of a sister if I couldn't forge your name, little brother."

Gaara knows he should be irritated but the fact that she just called herself his sister makes him sort of happy and he has an appointment to go to anyway.

xXx

_So! Chapter one, and I hope you enjoyed. This wil probably be about three/four short chapters at most. I have not intention of turning it into a monster series like Lost And Found._

_Then gain, I didn't intend to do that with Lost And Found either._

_Oh, well. Thanks for reading! _


	2. Chapter 2

_Please, tell me if I get Sakura right. I've already written part of the third chapter and I think she's pretty good there, but here…well, I've never written her before, just like Gaara, so I'm kind of easing into it._

_Also, you know, of all the foods to make a person burp, I never thought an apple could be so potent._

_Oh! And to any of my regular readers, allow me here to brag shamelessly for winning my school creative writing competition. Thank you._

_Chapter two!_

xXx

He wanders around a bit before realising he's not really sure where he's meant to go. Some excuse for a Kazekage that makes him.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

Gaara blinks down and discovers that something pink has run into him. He takes a step backwards to see better and finds himself staring into eyes a similar hue too his own, only greener. They're pretty, he muses, before remembering exactly who it is that owns pink hair and green eyes.

"Haruno-san."

"E-eh? Ah, Gaara-san! Good, I was just coming to fetch you." And the Konohagakure medic-nin takes a hold of his hand and starts dragging him back in the direction she came from. He's so shocked at the simple fact that someone is touching him that it takes a moment or two for Gaara to register exactly what she called him.

_Gaara-san._

Not Kazekage-sama. Not even Gaara-sama.

And Gaara knows he should be righteously indignant or at least get someone to do it on his behalf but the fact of the matter is that no one bar his siblings has touched him in weeks (months? How long was it since Naruto's last visit?) and well – it's kind of nice. Not to be Kazekage for a few minutes.

Haruno leads him to a room that he vaguely remembers having been in once or twice and ties her hair up before sitting him down on a bed.

"Right, Gaara-san, you know how this goes? I need skin on skin contact so if you could take off your vest and everything else, that'd be great. You can keep your pants on though." She winks, and Gaara is struck with the thought that medic-Haruno is different from the Haruno he meet at the ambassadorial dinner the other night, who was different again from the Haruno who enjoyed beating the life out of Naruto. It's all very confusing as Gaara only had one personality for years (killkillkill) and even though it's been about six since he met Naruto he's been so caught up with Kazekage duties and protecting his village and getting killed that he hasn't really had the time to figure out what his real personality is.

Maybe he doesn't have one? Temari's been giving lessons, but even she has problems teaching a reformed psychopath how to just _be._

He twitches slightly at the feel of Haruno's chilled hands on his chest and again at the feel of her alien chakra running along his pathways, checking for injuries or illness. He thinks that maybe he should stop going off on little tangents like that because most of his clothes are folded neatly next to him and he doesn't even remember taking them off.

"I'm sorry if my hands are cold," she murmurs, brows furrowed slightly in concentration. He looks absently down at her hands over his heart there and muses on the fact that she could so easily kill him right now. It's then that he notices the scars. A fine latticework of white and pink and one angry red, criss-crossing the knuckles especially but with quite a few on the back of her hands as well, dragging over onto the palm and distorted by a steady glow of chakra.

"Training," she says. He wonders how on earth she knew he was looking – her eyes are focused on her scarred hands.

Gaara blinks at her. "You trained with mountain lions?"

He feels the pulse in the chakra as she losses concentration, green eyes staring up at him in shock before she starts laughing.

"I didn't know you had a sense of humour, Gaara-san," she giggles. To her credit, he notes that her alien chakra settled almost immediately after the initial shock.

He decides not to tell her he had been perfectly serious.

xXx

_I know these are really short chapters, but I thought that would be a really nice place to end it, and the first chapter is only fifty words longer. Next chapter will be up…well, I have no idea, because I have to start studying for exams again. Please review!_

_Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed._


	3. Chapter 3

_Adding an 's' to the end of a word to make it a plural is just an English thing. So far as I'm aware, the terms stay the same in Japanese eg. Singular: Ninja. Plural: Ninja. So I'm not actually making spelling mistakes, I'm just trying to maintain some degree of authenticity. _

_Man, I hate mixing languages,_

_In other news, EXAMS ARE OVER! MORE UPDATES! FASTER! BETTER! _YAAAAAAAAY!!

_And here we go. Chapter 03._

xXx

Haruno pulls back and glares at him before moving over to a nearby desk to start writing down her findings.

"You haven't been eating," she tells him, and it feels like some sort of accusation to Gaara. Well it is, he supposes, except that _she knows_, she's not just guessing at him.

"There are more important things to attend to," he says finally.

He receives a punch to the shoulder and another glare.

"I know you think that you have to spend every waking moment protecting this village – and you haven't been getting enough sleep either – but if your health fails _you_ failed." Haruno knocks on his head and Gaara is still too surprised to stop her. "I swear, men! You're all the same. What happens, Gaara, if Sunagakure is under attack and you faint because your body hasn't had enough nutrition? Your mind can only do so much. So." She folds her arms. "You should be eating three main meals and a few snacks every day. If I find that you're not, I'll tie you to your chair and force feed you."

Gaara blinks. "You couldn't."

"That doesn't mean I won't," she shoots back.

That makes no sense whatsoever, but the look in Haruno's eyes tells Gaara it wouldn't be a good idea to be pointing this out.

None of the other medics have ever threatened to force-feed him before. In fact, the Kazekage is more than certain that they've never threatened to do _anything_ to him before – even treat him. It's a strange feeling, being treated without fear, and one that Gaara's still isn't used to.

"Gaara-san?"

She's back to using the suffix. He isn't sure whether he likes that or not. "Why?" he asked without preamble.

She blinks. "E-eh?"

Hmph. More words are needed, it seems. "Why are you…threatening me?"

She rolls her eyes. "Will you eat if I don't remind you?"

Something forces him to truthfulness. "…no."

"Exactly. I have a reputation to uphold, Gaara-san. Everyone expects great things of me. Tsunade-sama herself expects me to surpass her within a few years." The girl-woman busies herself with her notes. "If I fail at something as important as looking after you, the Kazekage, even if it's because you faint from exhaustion, my reputation is ruined. People come to me, Gaara-san, because they think I can heal them. If they don't think I can heal them, they won't come to me, and in some cases they will die."

He's oddly hurt that professionalism is her only reason for threatening him. He rather thought it was be something more personal.

"Plus!" And she's grinning now, how on earth does she keep track of so many emotions? "You're Naruto's friend. He loves you like a brother, which means I get to treat you like a brother, Kazekage or no. And I've not been averse to tying _him_ to a hospital bed six or eight times before."

"You don't…know me." Gaara picks his words carefully, weighing them, trying to ascertain what's going to offend this quick-tempered medic-nin and what isn't.

She glances up at him, startled. A lock of pink hair twists over her green eyes and his fingers feel a strange itch. He shakes them surreptitiously.

"Well, I know about you, which isn't really the same as knowing you. But I'm here now, aren't I? It's not so hard to learn about people, if they're willing to share." She cocks her head to one side and grins at him. "Oh! That reminds me. I was going to do this later, but I suppose now's as good a time as any. Border patrol changes in an hour or so and I'll be run off my feet trying to convince your medic-nin the shinobi aren't dying." She frowns. "Unless, of course, they are…"

Gaara waits.

Haruno shakes her head. "Argh. I'm getting off track. Anyway, Naruto didn't want to write a letter because he didn't know what to say, so he told me what he wanted you to know and sent me off with a 'Say something cool for me, eh, Sakura-chan?'"

That sounds like Naruto. Gaara listens without looking like he's listening, wondering how, after all these years, Naruto feels the need to impress him.

"Oh, you can put you shirt on now, by the way," Haruno tells him. He shakes his head, willing her to get on with it. She raises an eyebrow then shrugs. "Alright then. So, I don't know if this is cool enough for him, but just before I left, Naruto asked Hinata-chan to marry him."

Gaara feels his eyes widen slightly and scowled inwardly. _I didn't say they could do that._ His eyes, that is, not Naruto and Hinata.

"I'm invited," he surmises.

She sticks her tongue out at him and his eyes flicker in surprise. _Stop that!_ "Let me finished. Yes, Gaara-san, you're invited, but that's not it. Naruto knows you probably won't be able to get away, but he really wants you there. As his best man."

To say Gaara is shocked would be the understatement of the century. Pole-axed would be a little closer, but not by much.

"Th-the Uchiha," he finds himself stuttering. Gaara never stutters.

Automatically her face shuts down. It's something she's trained into herself, he can tell, and there's another twinge in his fingers.

"Ah…Sasuke," she whispers. "I think we all know he's not coming back."

"Time…" Gaara replies softly. "I don't—"

"Well _make_ time," she snaps. "Gaara, this village can survive a week without you. We proved that three years ago. But Naruto's getting married, something I know _neither _of you ever thought would happen, and he wants you there. No, it's more than that. He needs you there, so you'll bloody well be there or else I'll rip your stomach out by your tongue."

It really is a brilliant threat, something far more inventive than Gaara ever designed. He's pretty sure she'd do it, too, by the look on her face.

"Very well," he says, getting dressed again. And that's that, although she looks a little surprised she didn't have to argue him into it.

xXx

_They're still short chapters, but they're meant to be. And this one was somewhat longer, in celebration of the fact that my exams are over. I would like to take the time here to shamelessly pimps my writing and lead you over to my other Naruto fic, called Reset._

_Thanks for reading!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Wrote this in lieu of going to prize giving practice, as last night I had a mild panic attack at the thought of going on stage and am no longer going to the actual event._

_I am, however, going to therapy. Counselling. Whatever. Apparently I need cognitive therapy, or in other words, learn how to think differently. Meh. We'll see how it goes._

_HAH! I laugh in the face of my issues. Except, that I can only manage one of them at a time. Today it was my phone phobia. I made a phone call!_

_(Incidentally, that was your cue to clap and congratulate me, because I generally can't make a phone call unless I know for sure who's going to answer, and I DIDN'T KNOW THIS TIME!) Lol._

_Chapter 04, everyone! Enjoy!_

xXx

Gaara raises an eyebrow at his brother Kankuro who is idly swinging around in Gaara's swivel chair. It's early morning and he needs to get a good start on all that paperwork.

"And why are you in my chair?"

"It's a comfortable chair," Kankuro points out and the Kazekage feels the irrational urge to punch him. He gets those now and then but it's different from before. Before, Gaara would want to punch him and kick him and maybe strangle him a little bit.

Suddenly Gaara realises his brother has been calling his name. "What?" he clips out. Kankuro is still in his chair.

"How was _Sakura-chan_, eh?" His brother waggles his painted eyebrows ridiculously, making Gaara glad that he does not actually have eyebrows.

"You're still in my chair," the red-head points out.

Kankuro rolls his eyes. "C'mon, otouto. Tell me, did she give you a _thorough examination_." And there go the eyebrows again as he spins several full circles in the chair.

Gaara has no idea why his brother is abusing the italics, but he's making him more nervous than he has a right to. "Get out of my chair."

"Ugh, you've got such a one-track mind, Gaara, and it ain't on the fun stuff." Kankuro stands, sending the chair skidding back a few feet. "Oh yeah, and Temari said to tell you that she did all of yesterday's work and threatened a few people into lessening the load for today."

Gaara stares. "_Finished?_"

"Well, it's not like you learned to read until a couple of years ago, Gaara. Temari was three when she badgered Ma into teaching her. And she's been hanging out with that Shikamaru guy from Konoha. Y'know, the genius one?"

"I know who he is, Kankuro." Gaara sits in his chair, ignoring the part of him that wants to sigh and sink into it. He will, of course, but only after his brother has disappeared.

Eventually, Kankuro realises that Gaara is studiously ignoring him and slams the door shut as he leaves. The Kazekage does the sighing and the sinking and settles in for another day of paperwork.

He wonders briefly if he should just follow the Hokage's example and get completely intoxicated so the work doesn't seem so bad, but Gaara's never been drunk before and he's not entirely sure what effect it would have on the paperwork. He'd long ago come to the conclusion that Tsunade-sama is _always _drunk so it doesn't really matter in her case, but if Gaara wants Sunagakure to drown in paper, he'll put Kankuro in charge.

"I knew it."

Other than his back stiffening slightly, Gaara's pretty sure his surprise at an intruder in his office doesn't show. Calmly, he turns in his chair and fixes a blank face on the person leaning against the door frame. "Haruno-san. Come in."

She steps into his office and it's then he notices she's carrying a basket in her left hand. _She's not going to—_

"You haven't eaten, have you." It's not a question, so Gaara figures his silence is answer enough.

She sighs, holding out the basket. "Here. I'm no good at cooking and I'm low on time so I only managed to get you some fruit, but it should be enough to get some nutrients into you."

"You are you going to tie me up?"

She laughs, and he's oddly captivated by the shine it brings to her pale eyes. His fingers are getting that itch again.

"Do you really think I could, Gaara-san? I was a bit irritated yesterday, you probably noticed. To be honest, your medic-nin annoy the hell out of me. They're so worried about doing something wrong that they come to me for _every little thing._" She takes a deep breath and blushes, appearing to realise who she's talking to.

"They're afraid," Gaara says simply, gesturing for her to put the basket down as he returns to his work. He would ask her to leave, but he's not sure how to do so without being rude. While this wouldn't normally bother him, Sakura_ is _an ambassador from Konohagakure, Naruto's best friend and very, very scary.

At least, that's his story and he's sticking to it.

"Afraid?" She pouts and the expression doesn't look anywhere near as ridiculous on her as it does on Kankuro. "Of me? Why?"

Gaara's eyes widen. _She doesn't _see_ it?_

"You can be very…forceful," he murmurs, signing his name on the bottom of a paper and reaching for another.

Sakura thinks about that. "I guess. And stop that paperwork, now," she demands. "You need to eat something."

_She really doesn't see it_. Gaara stares blankly up at her, something that would have most sane people running for the hills. But it appears Sakura is not in the least bit sane, because she's pulling out a chair now and she looks like she's settling in for the long haul.

"Eat," she says again. "I'm not leaving until you do."

He's too busy. He doesn't eat.

She doesn't leave.

xXx

_Well, the next chapter or the chapter after that should be the last of this little ficlet thing. I'm having a lot of fun writing Gaara, except I think I went away from the 'cuteness' factor a bit this chapter. Oh well. Review if you noticed, or if you didn't or—_

_Well, you get the idea. ._


	5. Chapter 5

It's become a habit, one he's far too unwilling to give up.

Sakura arrives at precisely one o'clock in the afternoon (and don't ask him how long she's been Sakura in his mind, he has no idea) with a basket of food that sits there until it's time for the border patrol swap over and she has to go and convince the day guards that no, they're not dying, it's just dehydration.

He doesn't eat, because if he eats she'll leave and for some reason the thought is mildly repulsive.

It's all very confusing and Gaara isn't sure if he likes it.

She sits on his desk and chats at him as he checks and double checks paper after paper, filling out, signing, stacking until he can't quite tell what it is that's driving him back to madness, the paperwork or the sound of her voice in head as he tries to sleep at night.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaara-san!" Sakura sings, stepping through his doorway, hands clutching the usual basket in front of her. "The chunin exams are coming up!"

He looks pointedly at the extra mountains of paper his desk has sprouted. "I am well aware," he replies as she somehow manages to clear a space and sit down.

"Oh, come on. For a start, you know only a third of that paperwork actually has to be done. Everything else can just be ignored."

Gaara stares. She catches the look and stares back.

"Oh, no." She starts to laugh. "You haven't _really_ tried doing it all, have you?"

Silence.

The pink-haired girl-woman shakes her head at him and hops off the desk moving around so she's standing behind him. "Alright, here's a few tips I picked up for shishō." She points. "You can ignore those, no one expects them to be looked at anyway. Tell the people who wrote _those_ that you'll look into it – that's so that they don't think you're paying no attention to them and try to get revenge. These…okay, so these you actually have to do, and everything else can just be delegated to underlings."

"Underlings."

"Sure! But not your siblings. For a start, they're not really underlings and Temari has enough on her plate preparing everything for the exams." Sakura sighed happily. "Oh, but _Shikamaru's_ coming soon, what with being an examiner and all so that should make her happy."

"Nara?" Gaara frowns. "He irritates her incessantly. Why would she be happy he's coming?"

There's that look on her face. "Gaara, Temari and Shikamaru have been falling into bed together for the last year."

And even Gaara understands _that_ particular euphemism despite the distraction of his name without a suffix once again.

"What of Kankuro?"

The look she gives him in return is enough. It's probably best for Kankuro to stick with the military side of things.

The door opens again and Gaara knows it's Temari before he even sees her properly because she's the only one other than Sakura who doesn't knock and Sakura is in the room with him.

"Gaara, the examiners – oh, Sakura-chan! You're here again?" Temari blinks at the two of them, then smirks and Gaara begins to feel a little uncomfortable. Sakura moves easily away from his chair and hugs Temari. "So? How's it going?"

Sakura sighs again, but it's not so happy this time. "As good as can be expected, I guess."

He has no idea what they're talking about, and from their faces, it appears he's not meant to. Temari gives the medic-nin a smile and pats her shoulder.

"Ah well. It'll work itself out. Don't worry."

"What was it you were saying, Temari?" Gaara pretends it's just an idle question, looking down at the pile of papers Sakura had said really were necessary.

"What? Oh, yeah. Border patrol just sent a message. The Konoha examiners should be here in about half an hour or so."

Suddenly Gaara notices it. The excitement boiling under her skin, in her voice, her eyes and he wonders how on earth he could have missed it before. Every couple of minutes a small smile works its way onto her face and then is wiped away again by an air of professionalism.

Gaara decides he is an idiot. He doesn't mention it, of course, because he gets the feeling that the girls will agree with him and while it's all right to admit idiocy to oneself, it doesn't do to make it public knowledge.

So the three off the trek down to the one and only (bar flying) Sunagakure entrance and wait. That smile of Temari's is becoming more and more frequent and Sakura's lips are curved upwards in what Gaara assumes is anticipation of seeing friends that she hasn't seen in months. Even the Kazekage himself is feeling eager at the thought of old familiar faces – Naruto has nominated his genin team this year, deeming them ready like he didn't the year before.

"Is that a smile I see, Kazekage-sama?" Sakura teases. At least, he thinks that's what she's doing.

Gaara gestures at an yellow-orange blur rapidly approaching, three darker blurs riding on its back. Ever since he assimilated the Nine-Tails chakra into his own, Naruto had decided that running on all fours all the time was a lot more practical, especially when he wanted to get places fast. "It's been a long time since I saw him last."

Sakura's own smile widens into a grin. "It has, hasn't it?"

Kankuro skids into place next to Gaara just as Naruto reaches them, standing up and shedding children before throwing his arms around the Kazekage.

"Gaara!" he cries exuberantly, ignoring the grumbles of his genin at having been dropped off so suddenly. The red-head returns the hug tentatively and then Naruto's off to glomp Sakura, shake hands with Kankuro and everyone can see he's edging around Temari when the woman herself shoves him aside and starts running towards the upcoming collection of genin, jonin and one Hokage. It's then that Gaara spots Nara Shikamaru and both he and his brother wince as she slaps the other jonin around the face and starts yelling at him.

The genin look suitably terrified and everyone else is laughing at Shikamaru's misfortune until he rolls his eyes, mutters something under his breath and pulls Temari into a kiss that's anything but platonic.

Gaara stares.

It's the end of the day before he manages to speak to Temari about it.

"Why did you let him kiss you?" he asks curiously.

Temari laughs at him. "Who, Shikamaru? Because he's my lover, baka."

"But, in front of everyone?"

Temari shrugs. "_I_ don't care, and I don't care if anybody else does either. It's not my problem if they have a problem seeing two people in love kiss."

Gaara doesn't like the feeling of his eyes bulging like they are. "In…love?"

Temari gives him a pitying look. "You didn't know?"

"I know…somewhat of the situation, but love?" It's a sore subject for everyone in his family.

She shrugs again and Gaara gets the feeling that she's interrupted him on the way to something. "There's someone out there for everyone, little brother, even me."

He thinks on that. "Me?" he asks finally.

His older sister rolls her eyes and ruffles his hair. "Sometimes I forget just how much of an idiot you are, little brother. I can say for sure that there's definitely someone out there for you right now."

Gaara narrows his eyes. "You know something."

She huffs. "I know many things. Look, go and sleep on it or something. You'll figure it out eventually." And then she's gone.

The Kazekage sleeps on it, dreams on it and by the morning he still doesn't have his answer. He stumbles into his office at the usual time, thankful that he doesn't have to make any speeches until the next day.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaara-san!" It's one o'clock on the dot and Sakura is walking through his doorway again, basket in hand.

"What are you doing here?" he asks, blunt in his surprise.

She frowns. "What I do here every day, Gaara."

No suffix again. Why, _why_ is there no suffix?

"Why aren't you catching up with your friends?"

Sakura waves her hand negligently, taking her usual perch on the edge of his desk. "I saw them all yesterday and they're all working with their genin teams, getting them used to the climate here. Plus, I have a Kazekage to bully, remember?" She winks.

He wasn't expecting this. It takes a certain amount of mental preparation each day to ready himself for the whirlwind of emotions that is Haruno Sakura, and he's done none of that today.

Well. He'll just have to deal.

He settles uneasily into his paperwork as she chatters at him about this and that and everything else, just like she's done every day before that, until Gaara can't take it any more.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" he blurts. And _that_ is the question he schools himself to forget every morning before he has to face her.

"Eh? You?"

He nods and she laughs.

"Of course I'm not afraid of you Gaara, I love you."

For the first time in his life, Gaara full out gapes as Sakura stares at him with a look of slowly growing horror. Belatedly, she claps her hands over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry," she whispers. "Oh, no. Oh, no, I just went and screwed everything up, didn't I? I'm so sorry."

She hops off his desk, turning to leave and Gaara's not exactly sure how he manages to get to her so fast but he does, tagging her arm and pulling her back and kissing her, just like in Temari's cheesy romance novels that she swears aren't hers.

And for a split second she melts into the whole experience and while most of Gaara's brain is screaming '_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'_ there's a small part of it that's very glad he appears to be doing it _right_.

Or so he thinks, right up until the moment Sakura pulls back and slaps him across the face.

He stumbles back and suddenly _every – single – inch _of him is absolutely mortified and he's sure his face can't get any redder than his hair but then she starts yelling at him.

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, GAARA, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? YOU DON'T JUST PLANT A MIND-BLOWING KISS LIKE THAT ON A GIRL, YOU HAVE TO GIVE HER A LITTLE WARNING FIRST! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THESE THINGS ARE MEANT TO GO?"

Gaara looks at his feet, not really understanding. "Uh…no. Not really." She screwed things up? Then what the hell did he just do?

There's a soft, exasperated sigh from in front of him and then a small, scarred hand taps his chin up.

"You do it slowly," she whispers.

Gaara experiences a moment of pure non-thought.

"Carefully."

She leans forward.

"You look deep into her eyes."

He's mesmerised by her pale, pale jade eyes.

"_Then_, Gaara. _Then _you kiss her.'

She's staring at him expectantly and suddenly his brain kicks in and realising just what she's asking of him. Hands shaking, he reaches up and runs a thumb along the line of her jaw, enjoying the feel of her soft, soft skin until she gets impatient, hooks her hands around her neck and pulls him down for a second kiss that is far, far better than the first.

The door opens and Gaara gestures with his free hand, slamming it shut again. There's a pause and dimly from the world beyond Sakura, the Kazekage of Sunagakure hears his sister's voice.

"I _told _you so!"

xXx

_End! I hoped you enjoyed this little story, and in celebration of the end, I did indeed supersize the last chapter. Now I have to clean the dishes._


End file.
